Monster World Rally Team Takes on WRC France - Web Exclusive

Monster World Rally Team Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino took home four championship points, finishing in eighth over the weekend at Rallye de France WRC. The duo even placed their fastest stage time to date on SS18, coming in fourth and beating Oiger, Solberg and Hirvonen.

“This rally was awesome,” said Block. “There have been more Americans on the moon than those who have scored points in the WRC, so to come out on what’s mathematically my first race after a season’s worth of rallies (a season is 13 events) as a WRC driver and score 4 points, well, it’s just an amazing feeling. The final day of this rally went really well for us and I think a combination of me being more comfortable and confident in my tarmac setup, as well as having done this event last year really paid off.”

On the third day of racing, Ken and Alex held a pace that kept them within point contention and put them up against an up and coming French rally driver, Pierre Campana. With only a seven second gap a battle escalated to secure a points position and what would be his most impressive finish in WRC.

“Ken ran a great race the entire weekend,” said team manager Derek Dauncey. “Looking at his split times, you can see that his pace was on point with the top drivers, even beating Ogier, Petter [Solberg] and Hirvonen on SS18 at the start of Leg 3, which is huge. I’m also massively impressed with the way he went out and took time out of Campana right off the bat this morning, then continued to do so and protect that top 10 position. Ken and Alex have made a giant step in their development over the previous few months and I am sure we have a lot more to come.”

Block will continue in his tarmac prepped WRC-Spec car at RallyRACC Rally Spain on October 20th-23rd to hunt down more points for the driver’s championship. To follow the Monster World Rally Team check out www.monsterworldrallyteam.com